When Davis Love III says the RSM Classic is a family affair, he isn’t just providing lip service.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — When Davis Love III says the RSM Classic is a family affair, he isn’t just providing lip service.
As part of the pre-tournament press conferences, Love brought his granddaughter Eloise to the podium, and she explained how a hat she picked up at the tournament’s merchandise shop last year was so popular that she was offered money for it.
“Somebody asked me if they could buy it from me and I said yes, because why not?” she said. “I don’t know who it was, I kind of forgot, but somebody did and my mom got really mad at me.”
Davis Love elaborated.
“She kept getting asked and we said, well, why don’t you just sell it right off your head to the highest bidder? She came running in the next day, ‘$106!'”
Hats are some of the more popular items at the Sea Island Golf Club merch tent, some for fashion’s sake and some for practicality. Chilly temps on Thursday morning made knit hats something of a priority.
Also among the offerings are some baseball caps donning the number 15, which is how many years the tournament has been played.
And it’s possible you’ll see Eloise working in the stand if you drop by on the weekend.
“It’s good. We’re having a lot of sales. It’s very fun to work there,” she said.
Davis Love III returns to the site of a big win for him to add a short course and a putting course.
Hazeltine National in Chaska, Minnesota, has announced a long-range plan for the club named Vision 2040 that includes in its first stage a new short course, putting course, performance center and more.
The private club announced Wednesday that Love Golf Design, headed by Davis Love III, has broken ground on the 10-hole, par-3 short course that will open in summer of 2025. Love also will design the putting course.
“It’s an exciting time for Hazeltine, and the future is bright,” Love said in an announcement on the club’s website. “We are very excited to see the finished products, and I cannot wait to tee it up out there.”
Hazeltine National’s main 18-hole layout is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 4 private course in Minnesota, and it ties for No. 77 among all modern courses in the United States. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. and opened in 1962, and Jones’ son Rees Jones renovated it in 1991. Love Design also is developing a long-range master plan for the main 18.
Among other top-tier professional and amateur tournaments, the club has hosted two U.S. Opens (1970, won by Tony Jacklin; 1991, Payne Stewart), two PGA Championships (2002, Rich Beem; 2009, Y.E. Yang), two U.S. Women’s Opens (1966, Sandra Spuzich; 1977, Hollis Stacy) and the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship (Hannah Green).
The KPMG Women’s Championship will return in 2026. The club also hosted the 2016 Ryder Cup won by the American side captained by Love, and the club will again be the site of a Ryder Cup in 2029.
How has the RSM Classic thrived for 15 years, in the PGA Tour’s smallest market?
How has the RSM Classic thrived for 15 years, in the PGA Tour’s smallest market?
Of course, it has the main attributes of a good golf tournament: historic, scenic courses at the Sea Island Resort Seaside and Plantation; a strong field for the FedEx Cup Fall anchor event; and the cachet of having World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III as the tournament host.
But Love and his brother Mark, the tournament’s executive director, said there’s another key factor: consistency, starting with the only title sponsor the tournament has ever had, and a tournament staff, volunteer force and fan base that rarely changes from year to year.
Davis Love said it starts with RSM, which was named McGladrey when the tournament was first played in 2010. The 15th edition of the Classic will begin on Thursday, with Golf Channel airing play from noon to 3 p.m. in the first two rounds and 1-4 p.m. for the weekend rounds.
“I’ve seen sponsors come and go,” Love said. “It’s usually a five- or 10-year cycle. But here we are at 15 [years] and RSM wants more. They want to help us make it bigger and better for them, for the community and for charity. They’re not just a sponsor. They’re our friends and partners.”
Denny McCarthy tosses a ball to his caddie on the ninth green during the second round of the 2023 RSM Classic on the Seaside Course at Sea Island Resort on November 17, 2023 in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
RSM volunteer base is fiercely loyal
Mark Love credited more than 1,200 volunteers, most from the Golden Isles but many who carve out vacation time to work at the tournament.
“The volunteer [registration] opens up and it gets flooded,” he said. “It’s tough for new people to break in because of the retention of the volunteers we’ve had for years.”
Both also gave props to a small but hard-working tournament staff, led by director of operations Tony Schuster, a veteran golf tournament director who has run Tour stops in Castle Pines, Charlotte, the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and tournament director Todd Thompson.
“We wouldn’t be where we are if it were not for Tony,” Davis Love said. “We stole him from Johnny Harris [the President of the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte] and Johnny stole him from Castle Pines. Todd Thompson is one of the best in the business. Mark and I know what a great tournament looks like but someone has to execute.”
Tournament staff also includes family
The staff also includes the two brothers and Davis Love’s daughter Lexie Whatley, the director of merchandise. You will also find Love’s 10-year-old granddaughter Eloise helping out in the merchandise tent.
“She thinks she’s the boss of the merchandise tent,” Love said. “Mark and I got started when we were kids, helping our parents with the PGA Tour events and the first Players Championship at the Atlanta Country Club and now we’re on our fourth generation involved in running golf tournaments.”
David Love III will serve as a consultant to the Harbour Town restoration.
Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, announced it will close for six months in 2025 for a restoration of the Pete Dye-designed layout that opened in 1969.
Part of Sea Pines Resort, Harbour Town is ranked by Golfweek’s Best as the No. 2 public-access layout in South Carolina. It also is the No. 21 resort course in the U.S. and the No. 59 modern course built in the U.S. since 1960. Much of the layout plays tight through trees until reaching Calibogue Sound for its final holes, with the 18th playing along the water toward the famed lighthouse beyond.
The course will close May 5, 2025, and is scheduled to reopen in November.
The work is being done to restore championship-level conditions. The course has been home to the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing (and all the tournament’s previous names) since the year it opened.
All the greens, bunkers and bulkheads will be rebuilt alongside improvements to agronomy and maintenance. The turf will remain as TifEagle Bermuda grass on the greens with Celebration Bermuda on the fairways, tees and rough.
“Everyone at The Sea Pines Resort is committed to honoring the legacy of Pete Dye’s design,” John Farrell, director of sports operations at Harbour Town, said in a media release announcing the restoration. “We will protect the shot values, both long and short, that have come to define Harbour Town Golf Links for nearly six decades.”
Davis Love III and his design company will serve as consultants to the restoration. Love won the RBC Heritage five times, and he designed the Atlantic Dunes course at the resort.
“I’m both honored and excited to be working with The Sea Pines Resort’s Harbour Town Golf Links team on the restoration of Harbour Town,” Love, who spent much of his youth on the island, said in the media release. “Given my success on the course over the years, it is a layout I know and love. We’ve already begun a thoughtful process for protecting the integrity of this Pete Dye masterpiece.”
“It’s unfortunate for the events, for the fans and at least locally, it kind of sucks,” Doug Ghim said.
SAINT SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – In reviewing this new version of the FedEx Cup Fall, the PGA Tour has to be thrilled with some of its winners: Sahith Theegala’s debut win in Napa; Tom Kim’s repeat in Las Vegas; Collin Morikawa’s winless drought ends in Japan, the country of his ancestors; Erik van Rooyen’s back-nine 28 and emotional win in Cabo; Camilo Villegas’s feel-good story in Bermuda; and capped off by Ludvig Aberg’s 61-61 weekend here at the RSM Classic. The Sunday drama didn’t disappoint.
Underneath the surface, not everyone was so happy, particularly Jimmy Walker. who vented about how he had to keep battling for three additional months to keep his card. (He slipped out of the top 125 and will have conditional status playing out of the Nos. 126-150 category next season.)
Instead of the start to a new wrap-around season, the top 50 locked up their cards at the end of the regular season and no longer had to worry about falling behind in the full slate of tournaments. Rather, those without exempt status had to play on during a seven-event points chase to retain status for the 2024 season, which begins in January. (The Fall also lost two events — CJ Cup and Houston Open — both of which joined the FedEx Cup regular season, with CJ taking over title sponsorship of the Byron Nelson in Dallas and the Houston Open being promoted to a date in the spring.)
The top players finally got the off-season they’d been begging for and the rank-and-file still got several playing opportunities with purses of at least $8 million, full FedEx Cup points on the line and a chance to qualify for two early-season Signature Events for those who finishing in ‘The Next 10’ in the final point standings. As Peter Malnati put it, the FedEx Cup Fall was “fun and exciting, unless you’re one of the ones trying to keep your job and then it’s a strain.”
Peter Malnati lines up a putt on the third green during the second round of the 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course in Southampton, Bermuda. (Photo: Marianna Massey/Getty Images)
In theory, there was something for players of all skill levels to play for – even the top 50 could earn additional years to their exempt status and qualify for tournaments such as the Masters and the Sentry with a win if not already in those fields – but was it a win-win for fans and sponsors too? Only a used car salesman could make that sell, and it begs the question: will the Tour continue to secure sponsors willing to foot the bill for tournaments where the big names barely played, if at all?
Several pros expressed their concern for the future of the fall schedule, which will become increasingly important for players fighting for status for the upcoming season.
“It’s tough for me to see how it’s going to be sustainable,” said Mark Hubbard, one of six players to compete in all seven fall tournaments. “For me, I think there was a noticeable difference in the tournaments and just like how much the course kind of rolled out the red carpet for us and whatnot, you know, just little stuff like courtesy cars or hotel room blocks or the food. Everything just kind of felt like they were probably trying to save a little bit of money because they’re not getting, you know, the turnout, they’re not getting the big names.”
He continued: “I feel bad for a lot of those tournaments like a Jackson (Mississippi, home of the Sanderson Farms Championship) that have worked so hard to become a great event and, you know, now they’re gonna get zero of the top guys coming to their event, ever. It’s just tough for me to see how those [$8 million] purses are going to stay high and, you know, those tournaments are going to want to continue to be big events and there’s just no one coming there.”
“We have a lot of great events this time of year and if they want to host a PGA Tour event they should be allowed and the membership should support it,” veteran pro Ryan Armour said. “A lot of the top guys were looking for time off and if this is what they want, they got it.”
“More guys would show up for Vegas, for Napa, it’s unfortunate for the events, for the fans and at least locally, it kind of sucks,” said Doug Ghim.
“Vegas is one of the biggest changes. Last year I wouldn’t have gotten in and this year I was in by 20 or something,” said Kramer Hickok.
But Davis Love III, who has hosted the RSM Classic in the fall for the last 14 years, said he’s seen several iterations of the fall during his 30-plus-year career that landed him in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and expects the fall portion of the schedule to continue to evolve.
“It hasn’t looked the same in any five-year period for a long, maybe my whole career,” Love said last week. “Hopefully, it just continues to improve, they come up with new ideas … I think it’s just going to continue to improve, but I don’t know what that is.”
The Tour can only hope that whatever it dreams up next will generate a collection of stories and winners as good as this year.
The cut at Sea Island Golf Club had more of a sense of finality for some.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — A prominent swing instructor summed up why he could cut tension on the range at the RSM Classic with a rusty nail.
“Some of these guys don’t know whether they will ever tee it up at a PGA Tour event,” he said.
This week is the 54th and final Tour event of the 2022-23 season and so the 36-hole cut Friday had more of a sense of finality for some, especially those battling to make the top 125 and full status for next season or Nos. 126-150 and secure conditional status.
Peter Malnati, who entered the week at No. 116, shot 69-71 (140) and missed the cut and said he’ll be playing the waiting game all weekend. He’s projected No.122. Two three-putts in the first round was uncharacteristic of Malnati and the putter remained cold in the second round. But at least he had the right perspective.
“With or without a Tour card, I’m going to be awesome but I’d rather have one,” he said.
Harry Higgs, who started the week at No. 132 and had missed three straight cuts, made birdie on two of the last three holes to shoot 70 on Seaside Course and make the cut on the number.
All told, 78 golfers shot 4-under 138 or better at Sea Island’s Seaside and Plantation Courses. Higgs didn’t need anyone to let him know what what at stake when he made an 11-foot birdie putt on 18 at Seaside to make the cut.
“No, I know. I know it all too well after this year. Oddly, I wasn’t really that worried about it or focused on it,” he said. “For the last two years I’ve been stressing, worrying about all this shit. And for some reason, I don’t know why, I don’t know that I even said it aloud, I might have just thought it briefly, like I’m just not really going to worry about it this week.”
Patton Kizzire, who entered the week at No. 130, channeled the same philosophy and made birdie on his final two holes at the Plantation Course to make the cut and give himself two more rounds to jump up a few more spots. He’s projected No. 129.
Four players ranked between No. 120 and No. 126 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings entering the week missed the cut: No. 120 Matti Schmid, No. 121 Doug Ghim, No. 123 Troy Merritt and No. 126 Henrik Norlander.
Here’s more about them and some other pros who weren’t so fortunate and had their season come to a premature end. And here are the Saturday tee times for those who did make the weekend.
For the first time, the top 125 for 2024 will be finalized at the RSM Classic.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The view of St. Simons Sound from the driving range at Sea Island Resort is one of the most idyllic settings on the PGA Tour. Yet this week at the RSM Classic, tensions are high, jobs are on the line and not everyone will leave with a smile on their face.
“You don’t want to come in here worn out and grinding and trying to keep your job and not get to enjoy the islands,” World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III, the tournament host, said Tuesday during a pre-tournament press conference.
The RSM Classic has a different feel this year. In the past, it has been the final tournament of the fall schedule before the Tour’s wrap-around season resumed in the first week of January, giving it a last-day-of-school feel. But the wrap-around season is no more and players outside the top 50 in the regular season have had seven tournaments in what was dubbed the FedEx Cup Fall to earn their way into the top 125. For the first time, the top 125 for the following season will be finalized at the RSM Classic.
“We’re the new Wyndham Championship,” Love III said, referring to the tournament that previously was the final opportunity for players to secure top 125 status, which gives players access to all full-field events and the Players Championship. (Numbers 126-150 will earn conditional status, unless otherwise exempt.)
‘Mini Q-School’
Players who finished Nos. 1-50 through the FedEx Cup Playoffs locked their position in the FedEx Cup, earned full exempt status for 2024 and qualified for all eight Signature Events in 2024. All players ranked No. 51 and beyond carried FedEx Cup points and continued to accumulate points through the FedEx Cup Fall.
All 20 players from Nos. 121-140 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings entering the week are in the field. Carl Yuan, a 26-year-old native of China who finished fourth last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, heads into the RSM Classic as the ‘Bubble Boy’ at No. 125.
“It’s almost like a little mini Q-School this week for those guys,” said Eric Cole, the leading candidate for Tour Rookie of the Year who already locked up his card for next season. “Depending on where you are, being right around that 125 bubble is tough.”
Veteran pro Zach Johnson, who has played in the RSM Classic 13 times, tied for the most appearances with Chris Kirk, has sensed a different vibe at his hometown event this week.
“It is the last week for some of these guys and they’ve got to make a dent. That’s golf, that’s competitive golf, that’s meritocracy, that’s PGA Tour golf and I think that’s a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s also extremely brutal because it’s hard. Everybody’s really good and everybody essentially has the same goals and that’s to win.”
Patton Kizzire, who enters this week on the wrong side of the cutline at No. 130, said he spends too much time on Instagram and is trying to adopt the philosophical message of a Chinese proverb he read there and noted it may be for the best if he doesn’t keep his card.
“You know, the farmer’s horse dies and people come up to him and say, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ He’s like, ‘Maybe.’ Then the next day seven wild horses come up. ‘Oh, this is great.’ He’s like, ‘Maybe.’ It goes on and on down the line,” Kizzire recounted. “I’m at peace either way. I think whatever happens, happens.”
Access to Signature events
There are other consequences set to be determined at week’s end, including the “Next 10,” an eligibility pathway to earn access into Signature Events. Numbers 51-60 in the final FedEx Cup Fall standings, not otherwise exempt, will earn spots into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational with $20 million purses. Nine of the 10 players currently in position for one of the spots in The Next 10 are in the field – Beau Hossler, No. 51, has mathematically secured a place in The Next 10 and took the week off – as are seven of the players between Nos. 61-70. Sam Ryder is the bubble boy at No. 60 and knows what is at stake this week – a chance to have a head start on next season and play against the top fields.
“It’s been my very clear goal since the FedEx Cup Playoffs started,” said Ryder, who had his best regular season in six years on Tour, finishing the regular season at No. 61. “My schedule is subject to change depending how things go this week. I think it can really set me up for my whole year.”
The jockeying for position has forced Ryder to tee it up in six of the seven fall events.
“The nature of where I’m at, I felt like I had to (play),” he said.
It all comes down to this week. For those that come up short of their goal, all is not lost. This year, the Tour’s Q-School in December will offer cards to the top five and ties for the first time in over a decade. But no one wants to have to sweat out that pressure-cooker. Justin Lower, a 34-year-old journeyman pro who enters the week at No. 98, has been a poster child for the bubble boy role, and has endured the ecstasy of being on the right side of the cutline and the agony of his bubble bursting on too many occasions. Asked what he will miss about being on the bubble this week at the RSM Classic, Lower didn’t hesitate to answer.
“The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast,” Love said of the agreement announced in June.
With the self-imposed December 31 deadline looming for the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, PGA Tour veteran Davis Love III has confirmed the leader in the clubhouse for the worst-kept secret in golf – the deal isn’t getting done any time soon.
“The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast,” Love said during an interview on Friday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he was meeting on a golf course project.
Asked if he thought a deal beyond the framework agreement, which was announced on June 6, would be consummated by the end of the year, he said, “I don’t see any way.”
But Love isn’t discouraged. He said that the Tour has returned its focus to determining what is best for the players and he likes their options.
“It’s forced us to take a look at what has been going on for 53 years and think about what the next 50 years will look like,” he said. “How do we set up our company to be ready for the future?”
It’s also given him a fresh perspective on the players who jumped ship and accepted lucrative guaranteed money offers to join the upstart LIV Tour.
“I told some of them this in the very beginning. I’m not against you as a person, I’m against what’s happening and I think you’re making a bad business decision,” Love said. “Jay tried to explain it to these guys, you are signing with our competitor and giving our competitor leverage that is going to hurt our ability to make decisions and hurt our financial position. You don’t really understand that it is not just playing in this golf tournament versus that one.
“I’m still against the fact that this is a hostile takeover. These guys signed with a company that is trying to take us over. If a bunch of guys left Pepsi and went over to Coke and tried to take over Pepsi would you ever let them come back to Pepsi? I don’t think so. It may not be a perfect comparison but they sued us to make us change our rules so they could get what they wanted.”
But what should the future look like for the Tour? Love said that is the hot topic inside the halls of PGA Tour headquarters and with the policy board. As the longest-serving tenured member of the PGA Tour policy board and one of the Tour’s elder statesmen, Love has been called back into duty as a member of a small “ad hoc” governance committee to make sure that is top of mind.
“I’ve been drug back into the board conversations and I’m learning more and more. It’s so much deeper than should (LIV) be getting world ranking points. There’s a whole lot I don’t know but I do know there is nothing going on right now besides where do we want to go?” he said. “We might have screwed up the last three years, now how do we set up the PGA Tour for the future? Is there a different model? We’re independent contractors, maybe we’re not independent contractors? The lawsuits are dropped; now what do we want to do, what does (the PIF) want to do? Do they really want to keep blowing that much money on LIV? Probably not.”
Love suggested that the reason a deal may not be reached before the deadline is due to the Saudi’s unwillingness to negotiate.
“It’s just like the lawsuit: we’re never going to go to trial if they don’t ever do discovery. Our staff and players did discovery. They refused.
“We made an offer,” Love continued, referring to the Tour, “and if you don’t ever communicate, we can’t make another offer. It’s bizarre what’s going on. It’s a long way from anything. The sharks are circling. Now everyone wants to invest in the PGA Tour.”
It’s been reported that as many as 10 different investors have emerged as potential options for the Tour — although one company, Endeavor, reportedly said it already has been rejected — either to dilute the PIF’s ownership stake, which could make a deal more palatable to the U.S. Department of Justice and in the court of public opinion, or possibly as an alternative to Saudi money. Love said it will take time to weigh those options too.
“We don’t need money, that’s the beautiful thing,” he said. “One very smart business person said, ‘You may think you’re in a mess but I buy distressed companies and try to fix them to make money. Your company isn’t in trouble, you make a lot of money. It’s perfectly fine the way it is. All you’re trying to do is make it better. You’re in a great position.’”
Love went on to point out that it isn’t just the Saudi fund he is concerned about partnering with, but rather extends to any of the investment funds looking to pump money into the Tour.
“If it was Warren Buffett instead of PIF, do we really want Warren Buffett to control the PGA Tour just because he gave us a whole bunch of money? Shouldn’t the players control the PGA Tour and the staff that the board approved?” he mused.
Love is delighted that Tiger Woods has joined the Tour’s policy board to add another voice and said the first matter of business should be to shore up Tour governance and start rebuilding trust with key constituencies.
“How do we restructure the board – we need a new independent director – that has to happen first,” Love said. “Then we can go decide if there’s a deal somewhere.”
When asked why he thought Woods wanted to become involved in the business of the Tour at this critical juncture, Love said, “One is his injury and not playing right now but also helping a bunch of players get more involved, he loves that…Maybe he sees it as a responsibility and maybe he sees it as an opportunity, I don’t know. I’m just glad he’s doing it.”
Even as the clock ticks to make a deal with PIF, Love is looking big picture and thinking about the long term.
“I think it is going to be incredible for our business,” he said. “The only thing I do know is nothing is going to happen really fast.”
Neither event is a major force, but they lend themselves to a more laid-back, casual atmosphere.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two tournaments less than 90 miles apart have developed a sort of symbiotic relationship, mostly due to the friendship of the two hosts.
They’re on different tours with a different demographic of players and for different stakes. But they have a few things in common: they’re hosted by two of the top PGA Tour players of their generation, the old-school courses and clubhouses offer breathtaking water views and they’re all about the fan experience.
This week’s Constellation Furyk & Friends, which began on Friday, is a PGA Tour Champions event at the Timuquana Country Club. It’s in its third year and last December was voted the best tournament experience of the year by the Champions Tour membership. The tournament is hosted by Jim Furyk, a 17-time PGA Tour winner and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, and his wife Tabitha.
Forty days after the final putt on Sunday, the 14th RSM Classic will tee off at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., on Nov. 16. It’s a PGA Tour event that began in 2010 and has quickly become a staple of the fall schedule. World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III, who won the 1992 and 2003 Players Championships and the 1997 PGA, among 21 PGA Tour titles, is the host.
Neither event is a major force in worldwide golf. But because of that, they perhaps lend themselves to a more laid-back, casual atmosphere that appeals to some players who have been through the wringer this season with major championships, the FedEx Cup and international match play events.
Schwab Cup and FedEx Fall
The Furyk & Friends does come with a certain late-season cachet: the PGA Tour Champions Schwab Cup race has only two tournaments left for players to get among the top 72 for the Schwab Cup playoffs. But the stars, such as defending Furyk champion Steve Stricker, Ernie Els, Bernhard Langer, Stephen Ames and Steven Alker are secure and the fight is at the bottom end.
For the record, the tournament host is the bubble boy at No. 72, with a scant $2,037 lead over Jason Bohn.
The RSM Classic is the final event of “FedEx Cup Fall,” a new competitive format for the PGA Tour in which players who finished outside the top 70 (which qualified them for the FedEx Cup playoffs) have seven tournaments to earn points to stay among the top 125 and keep their PGA Tour card for 2024.
Tournament host Jim Furyk talks with caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan ahead of the 2021 Constellation Furyk & Friends at the Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. Photo by Bob Self/Florida Times-Union
Tournaments share best practices
Love said the tournaments have something else in common: they borrow ideas freely from each other — with never a hard feeling — and go after experienced tournament organizers.
“Jim obviously saw us pop out of the ground as a really well-run tournament because we went and stole from people like [Quail Hollow Club president] Johnny Harris and the PGA Tour and we jumped right in with good operations,” Love said. “So, Jim and Tab did the same thing, they went and found the right people [such as tournament director Adam Renfroe, who ran the Web.com Tour Championship]. Obviously being here in town with the support of the Tour is very helpful.”
Furyk has no problem crediting the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions with helping the tournament evolve from his two-day pro-am at the Sawgrass Country Club between 2010-2020 to the Champions Tour schedule.
“Having [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan and [Champions Tour president] Miller Brady give us the stamp of approval and let us go out there and find Constellation and Timuquana has been wonderful,” Furyk said. “It seems like a big mountain to climb but it goes by so fast … we have a lot of fun with it. It’s a labor of love and I’m really proud of Tab and our team. We have a very small team but they work really hard all year.”
The Furyk & Friends has a staff of six people, including Renfroe and Tabitha Furyk.
Love’s structure at the RSM Classic is similar. His brother Mark is the executive director and his daughter Lexie Whatley is the event and merchandise manager. The tournament staff consists of 10 people but Love not only plays but has been seen vacuuming the merchandise tent floor to help his daughter close each night.
Both tournaments have been tireless in raising money for charity. The RSM Classic has raised more than $35 million in charity in the first 13 years and Furyk & Friends has raised more than $2.5 million in its first two.
Jim Furyk, wife Tabitha Furyk, Nicki Stricker and Steve Stricker celebrate with the trophy after Steve Stricker won the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Fun outside the ropes
Then there are the activities for fans outside the ropes. Both have numerous hospitality venues, both private and public and being in the fall, neither tries to fight the pull of college football and the NFL.
A large courtyard behind the 18th green at Sea Island has huge TVs that are tuned into the games of the day on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the golf. There is also a sports bar-like venue on the back nine of the Seaside Course.
The Public Tailgate Village at Furyk & Friends offers multiple TVs to keep up with the games and it’s opening early on Sunday for Jaguars fans to watch the game against the Buffalo Bills in London.
There’s also the Kid Zone, with a petting zoo and playground equipment. And if kids want to climb one of Timuquana’s stately trees, no one’s going to stop them.
“Now I want to copy what they’re doing,” Love said. “They sell more than us, they build a lot more than us. It’s incredible. In the pro-am, I was just counting skyboxes and tents and venues. Shoot, my granddaughters want to come back because of the Kid Zone they played in last year. Little things like that, every tournament goes and looks at other tournaments and sees the successes. So we’re definitely doing that with Jim and Tab.”
Both tournaments have concerts. Both have highly successful pro-ams. And both take good care of the players.
Listening to the players
“We’ve all played many, many tournaments on the PGA Tour and around the world, so you know what works,” Ernie Els said. “They [Furyk and his wife] listen to the players. They listened to the players through the first couple of years and went from there. From day one it’s just been a fabulous experience. The venue helps so much, too. Everything works.”
Players and their families on the PGA Tour also enjoy the RSM Classic for its venue and atmosphere: in the heart of the Golden Isles, at a historic resort.
“It gets better by the year,” Zach Johnson said last year. “The community rallies behind it every year. Everybody’s just excited for RSM week. It’s a perfect synergy between the Tour, Sea Island, RSM and stewardship. That’s what the Tour’s all about.”
Furyk said the key is to give hard-core golf fans what they want, and a party atmosphere for people who are only casual fans.
“It’s really just about bringing people out,” he said. “The golf tournament itself is the vehicle.”
So who’s going to be the U.S. captain in 2025 at Bethpage Black?
Speculation is ramping up but Davis Love III, who led the U.S. to Ryder Cup wins in 2012 and 2016, knows who should get a call in the immediate future.
“We’ve got to call Tiger Woods and ask him,” Love said at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of the Furyk & Friends. “I think if he wants … obviously Tiger’s into a lot of stuff right now, but it’s kind of his call, I would say. I hate to put pressure on him, but it’s kind of his call. Obviously, with some guys out, he’s the next logical choice.”
When asked about the strategy of bringing in some new blood in the captain’s spot, Love didn’t hesitate to admit it’s time for him to move on.
“They need to get rid of guys like Davis Love and probably Fred Couples and move on. I’m lobbying for it,” he said, admitting it will be difficult to step away and let others take over the reins.
“It’s incredibly hard. I told a few people over at the Ryder Cup, I said, ‘man, this is my last time’, and they were like ‘no, no, no’, and I’m like ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s time.’ I told that to Tiger in 2019, I said I’m done. He said, ‘yeah, you’re right, probably time, who do we think we ought to get, young guys,’ and then [Steve] Stricker brought me right back in the next year.
“You know, I’ll never quit helping if they want me to help, but I’d be better in logistics now, behind the scenes. Tiger’s been a big help behind the scenes. Maybe that’s what he and I want to keep doing is stay behind the scenes and help out Stewart Cink or whoever the next guy is.”
Love also mentioned Webb Simpson, an assistant captain on the winning 2022 Presidents Cup team, as a solid future choice for Ryder Cup captain.
